The drama cell of IIMC stages Naina at Gyan Manch on Saturday. (Anindya Shankar Ray)

Mahesh Dattani’s Tara was sensitively adapted as Naina by the Dramatics Cell of the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. Staged at Gyan Manch on Saturday, the play deals with hypocrisy, gender bias and the complexity of family relationships.

Narrating the tale of conjoined twins Chandan and Naina, born to an overprotective mother Bharati and father Mr Patel, Naina is a play within a play, penned by an older, broken and alcoholic Chandan, who tries to purge his guilt, anger and loss with the help of the pen.

Naina and Chandan were born joined at the pelvis with three legs instead of four. The two were surgically separated in childhood but though medical prudence dictated that the girl be given the third leg and made whole, the parents favoured the boy. Chandan is given two legs so that he can be whole but the leg withers and both children have to live with one wooden limb, serving as a constant reminder of the family’s prejudiced decision. This eventually drives the mother to depression.

Directors Harsh Mishra and Mani Prakash have managed to convey the complexity of the issue and the playwright’s message smartly, without compromising on the poignancy of the performances. However, a spot of editing would have helped bring down the run time of over two hours, making the narrative more effective.

Aseem Nasnodkar as Mr Patel, Komal Agarwal as the ditsy but vicious neighbour Rupa, Nivetha Sundarapandian as Doctor Iyer and Monisha Rajaram as Bharati were cast well. Phani Kishan did more justice to the young, music-loving, humorous and gawky Chandan rather than the older narrator, on whose monologues the play rests. But it was Namrata Agrawal as the bubbly and feisty Naina, as well as the distraught, angry and heart-broken Naina, who stole the show.

The sets and lighting deserve special mention, particularly the multi-layered backdrop. The students deserve kudos for depicting, through lights and blocking, the claustrophobic London room where Chandan writes and the Bombay house where the past unfold.